My father, William Tom Stallard, was manager here 1946 to 1958.He was previously manager at the Btooklands Hotel, Sale, Manchester 1937 (?) to 1941.~ The youngest in the company.

He married in 1938.
He enlisted in the RASC as a Captain in 1941.
I am his eldest son, born 1941.
The family managed various hotels when their managers were on holiday.
i.e.'The Swan' at Leighton Buzzard. The Fox at Willian. Herts. The Crown at Slough.
He also managed the 'Guinea' in Berkeley Sq. London.
He died in 1971.Lung Cancer.Cigarettes.
He was always in a good humour. very open and positive, and welcomed everyone. He loved his job.

Many happy years at the Corbet.
I went to Adams Grammar School, Newport, as a boarder 1952 > 1958.
I see from the Google satellite photo, that the huge vegetable garden, the sunken garden with sundial, and the old coaching stables either side of the yard, have all been replaced with car park areas.

The bowlers used to go mad, because our Alsatian bitch used to pee in the same spot in a corner of the bowling green and make a patch. .

There was a parrot cage. Mother used to keep pigs next to the monkey house. (No monkeys).

Also we used to creep down the back stairs, behind the stage in the ballroom, to the masonic bits and pieces. Spooky!

Father had a black 1938 Pontiac. A folding canvas top. Reg. ANT 816.He bought it off Jones Garage, up Shropshire St. on the right.

We used to get the brewery men take us on the back of the lorry as they went to Shrewsbury, then drop us off at Tern Hill to see the trainer planes land.

The ivy was taken off while we were there.

The market day was Wednesday. All the farmers would be in. One old regular dear used to have a tipple, then go out and direct the traffic.

I saw a pineapple for the first time in the market.

Two guys used to dress as King and Queen for the Carnival.

Great times sliding down Salisbury Hill in the winter, Five of us crammed on a 10 ft. (ex army?) sledge, and all rolling off before we crashed into the hedge at the bottom.

Also had a pilots rescue dingy. Two of us would paddle along the canal.

Saturday morning matinees. There were two cinemas. Then we would rush out and down the garden to re enact the film. Playing 'Knights in Armour' or 'Spanish pirates'. And Willy the gardener chasing us for running over the little hedges in the vegetable garden.

Please add the 1970 full set of dates

Can you help me please? I was born at North Staffs Hospital in 1944,and I am trying to locate a mill that my late mother worked in,she worked I believe in a bobbin shed? She always referred to it as"The French Firm",and the head lady was known as Madame,I think it would have been around the 20s-30s,as when I was born she was working as a bus/tram conductress for Pmt Transport If you can help me,or put me in contact who can I would be very grateful. Many thanks

Thanks for a great website. I lived in Stoke from 1959 to 1984, and have been in Texas for the last 30+ years. I am teaching my son about his heritage, and your website proved to be a great resource full of the history and culture of Stoke.

Please add 1979-82 important years

was born in Longton in 1933 at 151 High Street Post Office, Longton.
All my childhood was spent there with my grandmother Sarah Wright and my great aunt Matilda Ward (my grandmother's sister). Between them they ran the Post Office until the middle years of the Second World War.
Before it was a Post Office, my great grandfather William Ward had a tailoring business there, from 1871 until it changed to the Post Office around about the early 1900s.
This is when his two daughters took over and carried on with the family business.
Next door at 153, my great grandfather's son William Ward junior ran a mens' hairdressing shop and a newsagent ...approx c1900.

It really was the happiest time of my life with so many friends around me. The High Street was one great big family with many shops that stretched on either side of the street. It was a great place to live, and I feel privileged to have lived there at this time.

The war years were to bring many changes - black outs, no street lights etc, and I have a very vivid memory of a poster in our shop telling us "that walls had ears" so you did not pass secrets on to anyone... All very exciting when one is a very small child!

Games of hopscotch drawn on the pavement with chalk taken from the broken saggers of the local potbanks. Marbles played in the entry that ran down the side of 155 where the Crooks family lived in the sweet shop. This does evoke recollections of penny chocolate bars etc. The skipping rope, and top and whip, another game to keep you well occupied all day, not forgetting the excitement of coloured chalks bought from Gothams toy shop to colour the tops in bright and colourful patterns. The competition between us children was high!

Ball games were also very popular at this time, every one seemed to possess a ball in those days, how could any one be bored!! I don't recall ever being so...

The war years with the ever threat of a German invasion made our very fertile minds revolve around spys, secret dens, plots, and obvious intrigue.

Around this time "Ourgang", Alan Crooks (who was the leader being the eldest), Geoffrey Emery from 158 High Street the outdoor shop that sold crisps and drinks, Stuart Bourne from the Royal Oak Pub, Graham Walker and Mervin Walker (unrelated).
Graham I think had connections with the chip shop across the road ...I have another recollection of taking a bowl across the road for chips and pouring so much vinegar on to them they actually drowned them. To this day I still do the same...

We were the High Street gang, and remained so until our early teen years when we went our separate ways. Money cannot not buy any of these precious memories: they are preserved in my thoughts along with many others to this present day.

Unfortunatly, some of us are not around any more but no one is forgotten and the High street will live on, hopefully, as memories are passed down to our children.

Stoke on Trent and its six towns is unique. The people and its pottery industries will long be remembered. I liken my hometown as "being an island with out water". We have a wealth of history and heritage, and in those days it seemed we had closer communities - before this so called "modern age" appeared.

We didn't like change and were well known for that, but change inevitably has had to come so we go along with it even if deep inside us we don't always agree, we will keep are past and memories with us.

The middle years - School
My first school was High Street Infants, sadly not with us any more, my regret is I do not have a photograph to remind me of those days.
My second school that I attended was Uttoxeter Road Junior School. This one I do have one surviving picture taken while it was in use.
Also I have a photo of myself and class with Doris Tunnicliffe as May queen, I remember all the children on this photo very well.
My third and last school was Queensberry Road Senior School. In my collection there are two or three of Queensberry School.

Not all memories of those days were happy - the cane was used consistently. I remember it well, smacks across the back of the heads, this would not be allowed now but on saying that, we all seemed to survive it well.....
Winters were harsh but the fun we had in the playground making the longest and most slippery slides were unbelievable, never to be forgotten. Walking home in freezing weather and calling into the shop for halfpenny oatcakes - that really was bliss.

I visit my old home town regularly and make a pilgrimage to High Street to look at my old home standing there dilapidated and forlorn, ready I imagine for demolition,
but I rememember much happier days.

One curious family tale relating to my home was that originally it had been a chapel somewhere around 1812 to c1840s. I have never been able to find any history connected to the three shops, and I would dearly love to know if anyone else has knowledge of its previous history.

I think that we must have moved to Cheadle around 1938, because I was born in Newcastle under Lyme, but my younger sister was born in Cheadle in 1939. At that time we lived on Leek Road. We had various airmen and sailors billeted with us when they were on training courses at the top secret Cheadle Hall, an outstation from Bletchley Park. These included a sailor who had served on HMS 'Hood', but prior to the terrible happening. bout 1941 we moved from Leek Road down to The Birches. Not such a nice house, but when you are young these things don't seem to matter. For most of the Second World War Dad worked in the munitions factory at Swinnerton. Despite the terrible war, as children we rather enjoyed those years. Cheadle was a lovely place to grow up in at that time. I started school in 1941 at the Church of England school which was just over the garden wall from where we lived. In the summer months all of us children from the Birches and Lid Lane used to disappear up into Huntley Wood. Whilst up in the woods we played various games, climbed trees, and picked bilberries. I can recall my elder brother having to come and fetch us home when it was nearly dark! Later on after the Americans came into the war Cheadle used to see a big influx of the US servicemen for the Saturday dance at the Guildhall. Sometimes of course this resulted in fights which were not so nice. The Americans seemed very glamourous to us children. It was around this time that I saw my first black American. We kids used to go around the streets collecting American cigarette packets which were new to us. By about 1943 I remember gazing at the Fyffes adverts in the local shops which showed a bunch of bananas. By this time we had forgotten what they tasted like. I recall that Goodwins on the High Street used to be surrounded by crowds whenever they received a rare delivery of sweets. I remember however that you could buy a ginger-bread man from a stall just inside the market hall.
One vivid memory that I have is one evening when Dad took us upstairs to the front bedroom to show us a bright glow in the sky. When we asked him what it was, he just said it was "Coventry burning". Terrible.
We did have a couple of bombs around Cheadle, but I don't know if the Germans were trying to get Cheadle Hall outstation, or Thomas Bolton's at Froghall. Possibly both.
Later on in the war my mum used to take me to the North Staffs Infirmary for eye treatment. We used to sit on the benches waiting our turn, and on the same bench would be German and Italian PoWs. It was a bit unnerving for a kiddie of 6-7.
After one such visit to the NSI, Mum stopped off at Meir to see Dad. I had never before travelled on a train, and we went to Meir Station to try to catch one of the infrequent trains to Cheadle. I remember standing on the platform, watching the train come in and marvelling at how clever the driver must have been to keep the train on such narrow tracks! Stupid boy!
I remember, later in the war, I went through a phase of collecting bus tickets, and always had a pocketful. One day I took my younger sister for a bus ride down to Tean. Only a couple of miles, but a long way for kids. We wandered around Tean, and walked up to the bridge that crossed the river (a brook really). We stood on the bridge just below the houses where a plane had crashed into the roofs. We leaned over the bridge and I amused us by flicking some of my bus tickets into the river below. Unbeknown to me this included our return tickets back to Cheadle. Doubly stupid boy!
We moved away from Cheadle in 1946, and even though it is now over 60 years since I left, Cheadle has a special place in my heart. I try to get back there occasionally, but of course they say that you should never retrace your steps.
The place is just not the same. But then neither am I.

I remember living on Charles Street in Cheadle, used to walk to Blaggson and Masefield every day and on Saturday mornings. My best friend was Julie Bryant, we loved dancing at the guild hall. My father had a stall in the indoor market and then a small shop on Charles Street. I have many many fond memories of my years in Cheadle. Wonder if anyone remembers Marion Clayton?

The White Hart was my home for many years until I married. My father and mother managed the White Hart for over 25 years and are both at rest now in Cheadle parish church. I have seen many changes both in the village and the hotel itself. My father was a very well known personality and was well respected. The cocktail bar was quite famous, as were the sandwiches! The village now has lost a lot of its character and charm. It was also famous for its ghost called the White Lady, I have many memories of not so nice happenings concerning ghosts!

I was born in Tean and in about 1957, when I was 8 yrs old, I was allowed to travel to Cheadle alone on the PMT service buses. I was 8yrs old. My gran would meet me at the cinema stop on Butlers Hill. She would always be standing outside the cinema steps. Sometimes I would walk along the High St with her to do some shopping. We always visited on these occasions the market. At the time, the market was bustling with people, and stalls selling everything possible. I remember Mrs Embling's clothes stall, and Billies fruit and veg stall. Sometimes I would go with my Gran to get hen corn from Moses at the bottom of Cross St. Afterwards we sometimes bought wool from Mrs Thornleigh's at the top of Cross St. We then went to my gran's semi, all the way down to Hales Hall Rd where she lived. Gran's youngest daughter and her husband lived in her house. She was great to be with, and dressed in very modern clothes. She also collected vinyl records and they were like 10 ins dinner plates. They played at 78rph. My gran worked at the Silk Mill of Brough Nicholls and Hall. She worked three shifts, days noons and nights. If I stayed the weekend, we walked down to Salt's Fish shop on Friday nights to buy our fish and chip supper. Then over the rest of my stays, I was a regular visitor to the shop at the bottom of Moor Lane, called Mrs Shipley's. I enjoyed these errands for my gran's ciggies and other groceries. My gran was a heavy smoker. She smoked Park Drive Tipped. There was no age restriction to get her ciggies. I would always get a treat for going and I would stand ages choosing the sweets that were within my treat price range. I liked Cherry Lips and Strawberry Mivvi's. Years later, when I went to the senior school called Mackenzies, she moved to a little cottage in Chapel St, as the semi was too big for her when my Aunt purchased her own house. I adored my gran and still miss her. She died in 1976. She knit all my cardigans and my mum would say the smelled like ash trays until she had washed them. I never minded at all, gran was a lovely knitter.

All sports
Geordie jeans

I worked at the Normid on London rd

Lonnies record shop

What shops do people remember when Stoke centre was booming town in the 1970s Haydons for one and Top Q

I used to live on Delabole road. Went to Albury manor then Staffs art school. Came to Canada in 1976. I miss Stafford and area. Can't stand the cold winters here

Please add 1989

As an old Stokie boy it certainly brought back some memories.
The view of St. Katharine's reminded me of when I was a choirboy there in 1965. The Rev J Poole was the rector.
Quality Street was where I earned many a 'bob' for Bob A Job week with the cubs.
Yes a very interesting site.

I have lived in South Stoke for almost twenty years.
I attended both Staffs County Primary and Albury Manor County Secondary Schools from 1956 until 1965. I was a founder member of the Stoke 3rd Reigate (All Saints) Cubs at Canada Hall and then went into the Scouts at Leek Hall when it was brand new.
I got married in All Saints Church in 1975, my parents moved away but my father in law still lives in Stoke.
The website is great - I learnt things about Stoke that I really ought to have known.

80-85 years and copies

Be great to see the early eighties versions up online